Yuri Milner
About Yuri Milner
Yuri Milner trained as a physicist. He graduated from Moscow State University in 1985 with an advanced degree in theoretical physics and then did research in quantum field theory. He later attended the Wharton MBA program.
He founded Mail.ru Group in 1999 and took it public in 2010. He then set up DST Global in 2009 as a separate fund manager for global internet investing. Its portfolio has included Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Snapchat, Spotify, Alibaba and JD.com.
Milner also co-founded the Breakthrough Prize in 2012 and founded the Breakthrough Initiatives, which run space science programs. He and his wife Julia joined the Giving Pledge in 2012. He lives in Silicon Valley.
Crunchbase lists 61 personal investments for Milner. Its most recent entry is the QuTwo angel round. Other databases count his deals differently, so treat any single total as approximate.
His personal deals sit alongside DST Global, which mainly invests in late-stage internet companies. Founders should not assume DST Global's later-stage focus describes his individual angel checks.
Milner invested personally in H Company's $220M seed round, announced in May 2024. H Company is a Paris-based AI startup building multi-agent models and agents for web tasks. Other backers included Accel, UiPath, Amazon, Bpifrance, Eric Schmidt and Xavier Niel.
In May 2026 he took part in QuTwo's €25M angel round, which was the company's first external funding. QuTwo is a Helsinki-based AI company founded by Peter Sarlin. It builds software that routes workloads across classical, quantum-inspired and quantum computing hardware. Other angels in the round included Xavier Niel and Thomas Wolf.
His own site lists internet technology and science philanthropy as his investment areas. His two recent AI deals were a seed round and a pre-seed round. Both were large rounds alongside other well-known investors. They were in European companies working on foundation models, agents and AI-quantum computing.
Milner has not published a personal check size or a list of what he looks for in a pitch, so none is stated here.
- H Company: Paris AI startup building agents for web interface automation. Milner joined its $220M seed round in 2024.
- QuTwo: Helsinki AI company building orchestration software for classical and quantum computing. Milner joined its €25M angel round in 2026.
- Facebook, Twitter, Spotify, Alibaba, JD.com: internet companies backed through Mail.ru Group and DST Global, not as personal angel checks.
- yurimilner.com
- crunchbase.com/person/yuri-milner
- gic.com.sg/event-speakers/yuri-milner
- breakthroughinitiatives.org/yuri-milner
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DST_Global
- siliconcanals.com/paris-startups-of-2024-that-raised-1m-or-more
- tracxn.com/d/companies/h-company/__YVYUkH859DojHjoaBdy6njhzP_PuhOhaKyM
- vestbee.com/insights/articles/qutwo-raises-25m
Investing activity
Yuri Milner appears in 2 AI deals tracked by the AI Lounge deals desk, rounds totalling $248M. The rounds are mostly Pre-seed and Seed, with a median round size of $220M. The most recent are QuTwo (Pre-seed, €25M, Jun 2026) and H Company (Seed, $220M, May 2024).
Yuri Milner most often invests alongside Nico Rosberg, Dieter Schwarz, Xavier Niel and Niklas Zennström, and the companies they back on AI Lounge are mostly in AI.
Deals
Frequently asked questions about Yuri Milner
Does Yuri Milner invest in AI startups?
Yes. He invested personally in H Company's $220M seed round in 2024 and joined QuTwo's €25M angel round in 2026.
What stage does Yuri Milner invest at as an angel?
His recent AI deals were a seed round (H Company) and a pre-seed round (QuTwo). Both were large rounds with other well-known backers. DST Global, his fund, mainly invests in late-stage internet companies.
What is Yuri Milner's angel check size?
It is not public. He has not published a personal check size, and the rounds he joined did not disclose individual amounts.
What is the difference between Yuri Milner and DST Global?
Milner founded DST Global in 2009, and it is a firm that mainly invests in late-stage internet companies. His personal angel deals, such as H Company and QuTwo, are separate from the fund.
How can founders reach Yuri Milner?
He has a LinkedIn profile and a personal site at yurimilner.com. No public X account was found, and he has not published a pitch process. A warm introduction through a co-investor is the most visible route.
Is Yuri Milner an angel investor?
Yes. Yuri Milner invests personally as an angel.
What AI companies has Yuri Milner invested in?
Yuri Milner's AI investments include QuTwo and H Company. The 2 rounds on AI Lounge are listed on this page with amounts, dates and co-investors.
Where is Yuri Milner based?
Yuri Milner is based in Los Altos Hills, CA.
What stage does Yuri Milner invest at?
In the rounds tracked on AI Lounge, Yuri Milner has invested at Pre-seed and Seed, with a median round of $220M.
Who does Yuri Milner co-invest with?
Yuri Milner's most frequent co-investors on AI Lounge are Nico Rosberg (1 deal), Dieter Schwarz (1 deal), Xavier Niel (1 deal), Niklas Zennström (1 deal) and Aglaé Ventures (1 deal).